WHO PAYS FOR SETTING UP A PORT? For hundreds, if not thousands, of years they have been living on the coast around Vizag fishing for a living. In harmony with the land and the sea. These hardy people, the fisher folk of Vizag (mostly of the Jalari community) have weathered cyclones, tsunamis, mechanised fishing, disease and poverty bravely. However, when it comes to conniving politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen, they seem to be out of their depth: When the outer harbour was constructed, they were rudely thrown out of their native habitat; the same happened when the fishing harbour was constructed. Now once again for the setting up of the Gangavaram Port on their land they are not only being displaced once again but are being insulted, beaten, arrested and killed.

Poll conducted from 13-12-2005 to 17-02-2006

THE TALIBANISATION OF VIZAG? On the 9th of December, a few leading businessmen and influential people in Vizag were 'raided' when they were watching a performance by reportedly scantily clad women in a hotel room. The police, as though they have nothing more

important to attend to and as is happening elsewhere in India, took on the role of the Moral Police/Culture Cops and booked cases against all of them. The local newspapers and some TV channels, for want of anything more substantive to report, seized on this story and published the names of those concerned with glee. 

So what was the fuss all about? A few middle-aged men watching a few women dance to 'filmi' tunes - not exactly earth-shattering news in an age where worse things are happening. And had they not been well-known names, would it have still made headline news?

Poll conducted from 22-12-2005 to 04-01-2006

Vizag Person of the Year 2005 : Here is an opportunity for you to decide on a 'Vizag Person of the Year 2005'. We have nominated the following who have been in the news for one reason or another without making any judgements. The only criterion taken into account was that the actions/ behaviour of these persons have had, for better or for worse, a considerable impact on Vizag. These people have earned either fame or shame, deserve either accolades or brickbats. Now you decide who it should be.

Poll conducted from 10-08-2005 to 20-10-2005

GREATER VISAKHA :  The State Government of Andhra Pradesh has decided to push forward with its ambitious plan to convert Municipal Corporations of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam into Greater Corporations on the lines of Greater Mumbai by integrating the adjoining municipalities and gram panchayats with the main City Corporation.

With the merger of Gajuwaka municipality and another 30 odd gram panchayats with Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Greater Visakha jurisdiction extends to an enormous geographical area of over 500 Sq/km with a population roughly around 20 lakhs (2 millions). Though Greater Visakha has several advantages in the metropolitan perspective, due to its enormity of size and scale, the complexities of problems and challenges will be formidable.

Poll conducted from 26-03-2005 to 06-05-2005

THE TIGHT-FISTED VIZAGITE : The extent to which it exists may be debatable, but it is a fact that there seems to be something about words such as 'Free' and 'Discount' that draws Vizagites in droves. Indeed Vizagites can be price-conscious to the extent that quality & service don't matter. Haggling has become a second nature even when they are getting a fair deal.

There are several theories for the existence of this trait. One is that Vizag being a city of salaried persons primarily, its residents have been forced to be frugal in nature and always seek out the best deal. Another is that the first members of the East India Company who settled in these parts were of Scottish origin. Yet another is that it is genetic.

Whatever the reason, that this is a general notion can be gauged from the fact that even many FMCG companies such as Hindustan Lever use Vizag for test-marketing new products believing that if they can sell it in Vizag, they can sell it anywhere. Of late many International brands and fast food chains who set up shop have been forced to cut prices to raise demand.

Poll conducted from 09-09-2004 to 07-12-2004

Corporate Social Responsibility : CSR is being much talked about these days and has come to mean more than the top management of a company throwing a little money at the pet project of some socialite. It now means contribution of time, infrastructure and the involvement of employees. In Vizag apart from one or two bright spots such as ITC Ltd. funding the SOS Village for children there seems to be ignorance on this subject (CSR ante yenti? Kotha shopping mall a?). What little is done, is done to procure free press and ad space, or is trivial in nature - such as watering the grass on a traffic island ("maintained by Hotel Grown Dark") & constructing hideous bus-shelters.
Compare this with companies such as Cummins (whose employees visit HIV-positive children), Voltas, Thermax, Forbes Marshall (which gives free training to NGOs) etc. and Vizag lags far far behind. What do you have to say to our corpies? 

Total Votes Polled : 191

Poll conducted from 13-08-2004 to 15-09-2004

The new HRD Minister of the UPA government, Mr. Arjun Singh has taken it on himself to de-toxify/de-saffronise text books at the school level which means undoing the 'Hindutva' tinge given by the previous (NDA) government to school text books published by NCERT. To be fair to the new government, this is not a sudden witch-hunt but part of their election manifesto. No doubt these books have a strong communal/ideological bias and contain irrelevant information (are the people of the Indo-Gangetic plain Aryans?), but school children will be innocent sufferers as their books will be revised once again. What do you think of this step?

44.5%

Books should be left as they are.

42.4%

Books should be changed gradually.

13.0%

80.4%

No, better to have a stadium or mall that will generate income.

19.5%

60.9%

Be a source of revenue for VMC without making a difference.

32.2%

Be a temporary measure at best

6.80%